OREGON DEPT. OF FORESTRY FIRE UPDATE – AUG. 19, 2015

This is a summary update; actual fire updates and other fire-related information is posted to the ODF Wildfire Blog. You can also find ODF on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates and stories from the front lines.

“Your help is critical in preventing the next wildfire.” Oregon’s State Forester Doug Decker calls on Oregonians to keep the next fire from starting. See the video at https://youtu.be/evoV67OztLU. Read the State Forester’s statement.

As Oregonians and others throughout the Pacific Northwest continue to experience some of the most severe fire conditions in memory, ODF and its partners are managing the fires affecting ODF-protected lands. Two of the agency’s three Incident Management Teams are deployed – one to the 25,324-acre Stouts Creek Fire in Douglas County, a human-caused fire that started on July 31, and one that was deployed last Friday to the 20,600-acre Eldorado Fire in Baker and Malheur counties; while one remains available for extended attack on ODF-protected lands, as needed. Across Oregon, 12 incident management teams are deployed to nine large fires, including structural firefighters from across the state, and teams from throughout and outside of the Pacific Northwest.

Fire agencies were alerted to the possibility of dry lightning and wind at the end of last week, and planned and prepared for it. The result, though, due to a combination of factors that are not surprising to anyone – a drought that stretches across most of the state, low fuel moistures, dry weather – is the 315,000-plus acres burning today across Oregon. “Friday was a very unusual day for ODF,” remarked ODF Incident Commander John Buckman. “Over 50,000 acres of ODF-protected lands burned in one day, a figure not seen in recent history.”

ODF and partner organizations and agencies continue to take the measures necessary to protect Oregon’s forests – from no longer allowing campfires even in designated locations as well as prohibiting all off-highway vehicles not on maintained roads in both the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests, to today’s ban implemented by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department on all campfires in Oregon’s state parks – including beaches, and the Governor’s announcement this afternoon of activating the Oregon National Guard for training of 125 National Guard ground forces to assist with large fires in Oregon.

ODF and its partner private protection associations are also being aggressive with initial attack – a strategy that has resulted over the past several years in suppressing 97 percent of all fire starts to 10 acres or less. From a 1/10th-acre fire in Douglas County on Tuesday due to a downed power line where the Douglas Forest Protective Association and other local fire agencies responded, to a recent fire start in Lake County where ODF provided mutual aid to the local rural fire district and stopped a fire, that threatened ODF-protected lands, from burning structures, as well as advancing further. Day-in and day-out – even during and despite this extreme fire situation – at ODF offices throughout Oregon, personnel and resources continue to respond and do the work that is needed to protect Oregon’s forests.

Protecting Oregon’s forestlands remains ODF’s primary mission – and one in which every employee is somehow engaged. Decker asks all Oregonians to engage, as well. “We should recognize that this is not business as usual. Our current situation necessitates a different type of approach, and involves setting difficult priorities. Fire escalation on the east side is unlike anything we’ve seen before, and the magnitude is significant. At the moment we have limited extended attack resources,” added Decker. “Oregonians need to be even more vigilant about preventing wildfires because the state can’t afford any more human-caused fires.”

FIRE STATISTICS Fire statistics can be accessed from the ODF Wildfire Blog and the ODF website. When personnel are heavily engaged in firefighting activities, the latest information may not always appear in the statistics.

ABOUT THIS UPDATE This update provides information primarily about fires on Oregon Department of Forestry-protected lands involving fires 10 acres or larger. ODF provides fire protection primarily on private and state-owned forestland, and Bureau of Land Management forestlands west of the Cascades, and also works closely with partner firefighting agencies.

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